In network computer systems, a plurality of computers are connected together and one or more of the computers generally performs the function of a network server. A network may be established through the hard-wired interconnection of a plurality of computer terminals in a local network or on a wider scale such as the Internet or world wide web which may include telecommunication links. In any case, the network server acts as the central control unit for providing access to files, programs and program execution to the individual computers connected within the network. In general, a networked computer terminal will "logon" to the network and obtain access to a network server. The network server will download a homepage presentation on the user's terminal which may include audio and video effects. From the initial screen display, a user may designate any other "address" to get to another "location" or screen display. The user may also select from a plurality of functions which may be presented for user selection on the initial display.
Generally, almost all screen displays include designated selection areas on the screen where the user may point a selection device such as a mouse-controlled pointer, and "click" on the designated screen area to invoke a displayed function, or menu for other function selection options. When the homepage or selection screen is downloaded from the server, many small programs or "applets" are also downloaded at the same time to the user's terminal memory. Those applets are associated with different ones of the designated screen selection areas and are executed when a user makes a selection or clicks on one of the selection areas on the display. The applets, in turn, may call for the presentation of a new user interface screen, or a new or different section of a portion of the screen, such as a pop-up menu or other graphical user interface (GUI) which may be within a framed or windowed sub-section of the main homepage.
The use of applets which contain sound and moving video presentations on a screen display is increasing. Typically, a user may logon to a particular homepage on the web for example, and the page will contain hypertext links which, when selected, will retrieve a file containing video and/or sound presentations. The video and/or sound files referenced by the hyperlinks reside in server memory and are downloaded to a user terminal in response to a user selection or clicking-on of a corresponding hyperlink presented on a user's display screen. The files are then "played" or presented by a program in the user's memory. However, there are many different formats in which these files may be packaged and the particular program to which a user has access typically can only run one or only a few of the formats in which the video or sound file may be presented. With audio files for example, there are several current format standards for audio data on the Internet, including but not limited to files having file extensions of "wav", "au", ".midi/.mid", ".aiff/.aif" and "snd". Accordingly, servers or webmasters must face a trade-off viz. to support only a single format or devote large amounts of disk space to store files in all of the popular formats.
Thus, there is a need for an improved filing methodology and system which is effective to accommodate the storage of network files capable of being utilized in a plurality of different formats while at the same time reducing the storage space required to store such files.